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MIT School of Science is dedicated to supporting its students, faculty, and staff through awards that recognize outstanding achievement, resources for conduct within the community, and guidance to MIT policies as a whole.

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A guide for faculty support staff offering instructions and materials for general administrative duties, fellowship and grant applications, hiring and personnel transactions, Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) and inventions, and more

Information on the School of Science's standards and processes for faculty promotions and tenure

The School of Science’s faculty promotion process is guided by MIT Policies and Procedures, with its own procedures for compiling promotion and tenure cases. Promotion and tenure cases at all levels are created by departments for their own review and approval. Approved cases are then sent to the School’s Science Council, where cases are reviewed and recommendations are made to the dean. The dean is then responsible for presenting approved cases to the Academic Council for their review and approval. Upon Academic Council approval, cases are sent to the MIT Corporation for review and approval. The department head notifies the candidate of the outcome of the process as early as possible. Title changes and salary increases for all faculty promotions become effective on the first day of the fiscal year (July 1) following the approval of the promotion.
Promotion to Associate Professor without Tenure
Most of our faculty members are appointed without tenure, usually for a three-year period. During this period, faculty members will meet with the department head or other administrators annually and their mentors as needed. As a result, faculty members should have an accurate idea of their performance, including areas that may need improvement. At the end of the three-year period, the department head will consider making an additional three-year appointment. It is typically during this second three-year appointment (normally after the fourth academic year) that an assistant professor will be considered for promotion to associate professor without tenure. In order to remain on the faculty, assistant professors with eight years of service and under age 35 must receive a promotion to associate professor.
The review process accompanying this promotion to associate professor without tenure is quite rigorous and is designed to provide a clear view of the progress an assistant professor has made and his or her ultimate prospects for tenure. The MIT Policies and Procedures outlines the standard of excellence for its faculty as follows:
The ideal attributes of any departmental faculty, taken as a group, are scholarly achievement, creativity, collegiality, professional competence and leadership, ability and desire to teach, and willingness to cooperate with other departments in promoting the work and welfare of the Institute as a whole. It is the responsibility of the administration to ensure, within any department, not only a proper balance among these activities but also the maintenance of each at the highest level, together with suitable recognition of individual achievement and service.
Teaching and research are the primary functions of the Institute and are nourished by efficient and imaginative administration. Service to the community and the nation is an inherent obligation. These four — teaching, research, administration, and public service — are essential features in the MIT program and make comparable demands on ability and devotion.
When the performance of a faculty member is appraised, consideration will be given to high achievement in any of these areas, and the value of the faculty member’s total contribution will be measured not only by the extent and nature of his or her other activities but also by the effectiveness with which they are pursued.
Assistant professors should work with their departments to submit the following information as part of the promotion process:
List of recommended outside referees and any referees to be avoided.
Hard copies of an up-to-date CV with publications, honors and awards, and service (both inside and outside MIT).
The CV should include following items in addition to the standard biographical information, honors and awards, a publication list, and list of invited talks:
Teaching Experience
Theses Supervised
Postdoctoral Associates, and Fellows Supervised and where they are now employed.
Educational Commons
Research Contracts and Grants
A one- or two-page statement of current and future research interests.
At least two but not more than four reprints or preprints.
The Educational Commons section of the CV should include information on the following
Faculty involvement in reading admissions folders
Faculty involvement in orientation (freshman picnic, FPOP)
Faculty involvement in teaching GIRs
Faculty involvement in freshman advising/mentoring and freshman seminars
Faculty involvement in committees (CUP, CoD etc)
Faculty involvement in commencement
Housemasters, House Fellows
UROP supervision and IAP activities
Special programs teaching/leadership (e.g., ESG, IAP events)
Please note that MIT policy requires faculty and staff to treat sensitive information contained in promotion and tenure cases, particularly the identity of referees and the content of their written assessments, with the highest degree of confidentiality.
Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure
The process for promotion to associate professor with tenure is typically completed before the end of the candidate’s seventh year at the Institute, although extensions of the tenure clock are available for childbearing and child rearing. Associate professors with a total of eight or more years of service must receive tenure in order to continue after age 35.
MIT Policies and Procedures outlines the following guidelines with regards to tenure:
The Institute regards tenure as important to ensuring academic freedom in teaching, research, and extramural activity. A department and School make a career commitment when the award of tenure is recommended. The Institute as a whole, acting through the Academic Council and the Corporation, joins in this commitment when tenure is awarded.
Persons awarded tenure must be judged by distinguished members of their discipline to be of first rank among scholars and to show promise of continued contribution to scholarship. Tenured members of the Faculty must also demonstrate outstanding teaching and university service; however, teaching and service are not a sufficient basis for awarding tenure.
A single standard for tenure applies across the Institute, for all Schools and disciplines and for all modes of inquiry. Although the single standard requires that all candidates be of exceptional quality as confirmed by distinguished members of their disciplines, it may be appropriate, based on the culture of the discipline or the modes of inquiry, to look at different factors as evidence of significant scholarly achievement.
The process for review is similar to that outlined above. Candidates will be asked to submit an updated CV with the components discussed above, an up-to-date research plan, recent publications, and input on referee selection.
Promotion to Full Professor
The promotion to full professor usually occurs four years after promotion to tenure. Promotion to full professor is meant to recognize significant contributions in research, education, and service to MIT and to the broader scientific community, and follows the same review processes noted above.